What You Need to Know About the Paleo Diet

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On Nov 12, 2020, I posted an in-depth look at the differences between gluten-free and Paleo’s position on grains. There are some grains that do not contain gluten such as oats, rice, buckwheat, corn, quinoa, amaranth and a few others. But no grains are permitted on Paleo because they are simple carbohydrates and quickly break down into sugar causing a spike in blood sugar level. This prevents the body from burning fat since it needs to convert the excess glucose in the bloodstream into energy while storing the rest as fat. 

Taking the place of grains are Paleo baking flours such as almond, cassava, coconut, hazelnut, cashew, tiger nut, arrowroot and tapioca flours. I typically like to mix two or three together to get the texture and flavor I’m looking for. 

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​There are a number of oils not allowed on Paleo including canola, corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower, peanut, grape seed, cottonseed and margarine. These are highly processed and low in omega-3s, which are important for cholesterol health, brain function, reducing inflammation, energy maintenance, and much more.
 
Preferred oils on Paleo include olive, avocado, coconut, butter/ghee. They are high in omega-3s and are far less processed. Nut oils like macadamia, almond and walnut are allowed but in small quantities. Their ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s is insufficient to eat on a daily basis, and should not be heated.
 
Sesame seed oil is the one seed oil considered acceptable for Paleo cooking, but like nut oils should be used on a limited basis. Make sure you use unrefined sesame oil since refining the oil requires the use of toxic chemicals.
 
When cooking at high heat, use light olive oil, avocado, coconut oil, ghee or grass-fed butter (why grass-fed and not regular butter and why light olive oil will be topics of future posts).

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When it comes to adding sweetness to your baking and cooking, refined sugar and artificial sweeteners are not allowed on Paleo. The body breaks down refined sugar quickly, causing blood sugar and insulin levels to spike. It’s digested so rapidly that no matter how many calories you consume you will still feel hungry.
 
The sweeteners allowed on Paleo include coconut sugar, maple syrup (grade B, maple sugar (which is maple syrup that has been boiled longer until it evaporates into a granulated form), honey (raw, unrefined from local sources is preferred), monk fruit, and dates, which are used to make paste, date syrup and date sugar.

Pure stevia is allowed because it’s extracted from the leaves of the stevia plant making it fully natural. The leaves are used to make tea that is dehydrated to convert to powdered stevia, which is 300 times the sweetness of table sugar. But be careful that you are actually buying pure stevia. There are many sweeteners on the market that mix stevia with other types of sweeteners. For example, Truvia combines stevia with erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol that can cause digestive problems for those who are sensitive to it. 

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​When a doctor prescribed the Paleo Diet for me in 2016, both dairy (with the exception of butter and ghee) and beans/legumes were off limits. Yet I read that about 20% of people on the Paleo Diet did not strictly adhere to the diet. When I talked to people at the market who said they were Paleo for the most part, it was nearly always dairy that they were not strict about. They said they had eaten dairy their entire lives and knew it didn’t bother them, or at least items like hard cheese were not an issue and felt this is where they would draw the line.

​The attitude in the Paleo community towards these seems to be softening. One of my favorite Paleo bloggers, Mark Sisson, recently wrote, “My (non-medical) opinion is, if you're not sure, eliminate all dairy for a few weeks, then bring back (highly ranked) dairy foods one at a time, in small amounts, given you're not allergic. See how your body responds.”
 
In his blog he ranks the different types of dairy, so when he uses the term “highly ranked” he has raw, fermented, full-fat dairy milk, yogurt, and cheeses at the top of his list. Look for his blog to see how he ranks the various categories of dairy.
The same is true with beans and legumes. Eating more than a small quantity is still discouraged but having them occasionally is probably OK if you are sure you can tolerate them.
 
At my market stand I had a very condensed version of this post on a sign titled, “So what is Paleo,” which I also provided as a handout. One of its bullet points is:
 
• The Paleo Diet is not a diet to lose weight, although you can. But you can also stay the same or gain weight.
 
The Paleo Diet gives no direction as to how much you can eat of its approved foods. So how you want to use it to effect weight loss or gain is left to you. That’s why when asked at the market what I thought was the best diet for losing weight, I would tell people that combining Paleo with Weight Watchers would be a great choice. Another diet to combine it with for weight loss is the Mediterranean Diet and yet another is the Zone Diet. I’m sure there are many others.